Sr. Connie Haug, OP (Sr. Omer), was 80 years old when she was silently, gently, beautifully, called back home to God, just a few months before her celebration of 60 years of Dominican-professed life. Sr. Connie had had a full and successful ministerial life. After dementia claimed her active ministry she began long years of quiet prayer, simply being and always smiling.

Born September 28, 1934, Constance Lucille Haug (Connie) was the fourth child of 14 born to the Omer and Lucille Knoll Haug family. Seneca, KS, was her childhood home and the locale of her grade and high school education; St. Peter and St. Paul Church in Seneca was where she was baptized two days after her birth. She entered the Dominican Sisters' Community in Great Bend, KS, on August 28, 1952, and pronounced her first vows on June 13, 1955. She celebrated 50 years of religious profession in 2005.

With education to minister as a teacher Sr. Connie soon found lots of life and fulfillment in the primary students she was assigned to teach for over a decade in the Dioceses of Pueblo, CO, and Dodge City, Salina, and Wichita, KS. "Although Sr. Connie was an expert teacher and loved teaching," said Sr. Irene Hartman in the wake reflection, "the strains of Vatican Council II began resounding in her ears. She heard a call to broaden her scope of spreading the Gospel. She began teaching students on all levels: elementary students, parents, and adults in general as she explored the CCD field." She endeared herself to countless persons by her constant smile and engaging infectious laughter which helped people to be more eager to hear the message of God's love and compassion. "She was creative in using puppets with children as teaching tools to accompany the Gospels according to the three liturgical cycles." Sr. Connie also served parishes as a pastoral associate, and spent time in pastoral care in hospitals. She ministered to her religious community as local coordinator at the Motherhouse, and finally in community service and prayer ministry in the infirmary.

After Sr. Connie took up residence in the infirmary it was time to shut out the world and deepen her own religious sense of the divine in fervent prayer. Her last illness was a special call to draw closer to God's heart. "Those last years," continued Sr. Irene, "seemed to us that Sr. Connie had entered a dark cave. But how wrong we could be!" Perhaps God had given Sr. Connie these special years so that Abba, Jesus, and Spirit could speak to her heart without any interruptions. These latter years could have been her time of deepest communion with her God.

Sr. Connie is survived by her Dominican Sisters of Peace religious community, two brothers and eight sisters.

The Wake and Liturgy of Christian Burial for Sr. Connie Haug were on Sunday and Monday, March 29-30, 2015, with Rev. Andrew Heiman, her nephew, presiding. Services and burial in the Dominican Sisters' Resurrection Cemetery were all from the Dominican Sisters of Peace Motherhouse in Great Bend.

Memorials in honor of Sr. Connie may be submitted securely online at www.oppeace.org or sent to Dominican Sisters of Peace, 2320 Airport Dr, Columbus OH 43219-2098.

Obituary prepared by Sr. Elaine Osborne, OP

*Read the wake reflection by Sr. Irene Hartman, OP